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Quote of the Day: "There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves" - Richard Rorty
It has taken me a long time to learn this. I used to think that what I
am is the result of outside influences. My dad was emotionally abusive
so that is why I am the way I am. My mom died when I was 12 so that is
why I am the way I am. The other kids in school made fun of me so that
is why I am the way I am. But in reality, it is how I have chosen to
react to situations that has made me what I am. It is what I have put
deep down inside that has made me what I am.
Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a great
book. (I'm not actually reading it now. I read it many years ago) He is
a concentration camp survivor who observed many people who he thought
were strong enough to survive wither away and die, and many he thought
were too weak to survive make it through. He witnessed horrible
atrocities and torture in the name of advancing medical science and he
witnessed the heroic efforts of the inmates to help each other survive.
Through it all he realized that we all have one freedom. All the rest
of our freedoms can be taken away, but this one freedom is inalienably
and irrevocably ours --- the freedom to chose how we will react.
And how we chose to react makes us who we are. Who we are today is the
result of all our past choices and they lead us in our choices today.
The good news is we can always choose to change how we react. That is
our freedom. If we have made bad choices in the past we can change. We
don't have to go through life doomed to repeating past mistakes.
Can you guess what the closing line will be?
Life is choices. Choose wisely.
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| | Posted 4/6/2005 7:54 AM - 1 view - 0 comments
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